Movies: The Secret of Kells

(di —This entry is backdated, and was written around 10 AM on the 3rd.)

I’d been hearing about The Secret of Kells off and on since maybe September or October of last year (feels weird to think about 2010 as “last year,” but I’m sure that’ll pass), and I wanted to see it. As I glanced over the TVtropes page for it last night (the first time I tried to write this article) it occurred to me that I might not’ve even read the tropes for the film before seeing it, which strikes me as a bit odd. Maybe I just didn’t find time for it.

Anyway, I watched the movie yesterday with my friend Megan, and I quite enjoyed it. The visual style, to me, was very reminiscent of “the Cartoon Network style” of shows like The Powerpuff Girls, Dexter’s Laboratory, and Samurai Jack. Megan reiterated several times throughout, that the movie is “visually interesting” and I’m not sure what motivated her to say so — I didn’t think any attention needed to be drawn to it. *shrug*

One of those “things” that makes animation cool is you can choose what to emphasize, and it’s very clear the movie chose to highlight several key elements: there was a lot of wonder in the movie. The scene where Brendan squares off with Crom Cruach gets a lot of mention, though the scene where Brendan and Aisling climb the tree is also quite wonderful — and of course there’s the scene where Aisling frees Brendan from the tower.

So, I’d recommend the film to anyone. It has a bittersweet ending, so keep that in mind. Otherwise, just enjoy it for its story, et cetera, et cetera.